A Love Song For The Sea
by Chair love is immortal17
Summary: Blair Waldorf has been missing for a year and is presumed dead, and Chuck finds himself along the same stretch of Alaskan coastline where she disappeared. After the mysterious sinking of the yacht he was aboard, he comes face to face with a creature that hauntingly resembles Blair.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: time period is unspecified.**

It was the middle of June, which meant it had been almost a year since Blair had changed. A year since she and her mother had taken a cruise around the Alaskan coast. They had taken the trip to spend, as Eleanor put it "mother daughter time together", but just as Blair had suspected, as soon as they set sail Eleanor was on her phone with some crisis at the atelier. It didn't surprise Blair; Eleanor had ignored her almost her entire life and when she did pay attention to her it was only to criticize something- her clothes, her hair, her weight, or her relationship with Chuck. Eleanor was still adamant that Blair should be with Nate; she insisted they were the perfect couple. He was a gentleman: polite, gracious, handsome, well bred and his family was old money which in Eleanor's book was everything.

But at that point Blair hadn't cared what her mother thought. She hadn't cared that her mother was convinced Chuck would dump her after he "got what he wanted". Eleanor kept telling her that a boy with his reputation and past, one filled with endless women, alcohol and drugs wasn't capable of real feelings. Blair had thought about telling Eleanor that he had already "gotten what he wanted" and still wanted to be with her. She had thought it would be amusing to see the shocked and horrified look on Eleanor's face when she found out her daughter wasn't the pure and pristine little girl she thought her to be.

Blair had called Chuck every chance she got in the days before the ship sunk. They had to be very careful when they talked over the phone. The week before, Eleanor had pressured Blair into breaking up with Chuck and going back to Nate. Blair had lied and told her she had broken up with Chuck and she would talk to Nate when they got back from their trip.

One day after breakfast Blair and her mother had gotten in a fight when Eleanor had found out that Blair had lied. Eleanor had yelled at her until her cheeks were red and she was out of breath. She had hit Blair twice. After her mother's hand collided swiftly with her cheek the second time Blair had had enough and dashed out of the room and out onto the deck of the ship, tears slipping down her stinging cheek.

Standing out on the deck she had heard the music. It put her into a sort of trance so that she didn't realize the ship was speeding towards a rocky cliff face, she simply stared down at the mermaids in the water below the ship as it raced to towards the jagged rocks. There was a loud crunch as the hull of the ship smashed into the rocks and she had had the sensation of falling and then everything had gone black.

All that was a distant memory. Blair now lay on the shore of the cave where the tribe lived, quietly humming to herself and swaying slowly as the water lapped at the pebble beach. Her long silver, cerulean and cyan tail stretched out in front of her, the sensitive, transparent fins at the end rippling and waving absently.

She wasn't alone in the cave. Victoria and Crystal, two of the youngest girls in the tribe, were to her left talking and playing patty cake. Miriam lay floating on the surface of the water about three feet in front of Blair, her eyes closed and her hands resting behind her head. Everyone else; Samantha, Caterina, Kaylee and the other dozen or so girls were at the dining beach.

Suddenly Samantha popped up next to Miriam, making her jump and sprays of water sprinkled over Blair, Victoria and Crystal. Samantha was smiling.

"There's a yacht! Caterina and the others are already swimming out to it, come on!" she cried, motioning for them to follow. She dipped back under the water, her tail flicking as she dove.

"Thank god. I am so bored." Blair turned to look at Victoria and Crystal as she slid into the water, her tail spiraling out behind her as she zipped through the curving tunnel and out into the open sea. Miriam, Victoria and Crystal were right behind her. Samantha was at the mouth of the tunnel waiting to lead them to Caterina and the others.

Blair and Samantha were at the front of the small group as they sped through the cool, smooth water. They were giddy with excitement and spun and twirled as they raced along. It had been months since they'd sunk a ship and they were restless and craved the thrill. As they neared the ship Blair could hear Caterina already singing; her soft, satiny voice rippling through the water.

Blair took her position on the starboard side of the yacht and near the bow. Since Caterina had dubbed her second best singer, Cat liked her to be in the front. She opened her mouth and let out the death song. It leapt from her throat as if it were alive, sweeping through the air and melding with the other mermaids' songs. She had noticed not long after her transformation that her song sounded very different from the other mermaids. It was melancholy and still had the enchanting thrum that the others had but it was more mournful and gentle. It promised undying love, unconditional love, like no matter what you did she would still love you, but also told you she missed someone, deeply and with every fiber of her being.

There were four or five people out on the deck. They stumbled over to lean on the rails, gazing at the mermaids. Blair heard the throbbing of the engine as it sped up, pressing the yacht faster towards the rocky island.

The yacht crunched as it crashed into the rocks, the passengers falling overboard and splashing into the water. But as usual none of them panicked, they were happy to die. It was if they thought dying would bring them closer to that sweet, hypnotic music.

Through the confusion Blair saw a man- probably in his early to mid 40s- swimming for the shore, trying to resist the singing. He was making poor progress in his quest for land, mostly splashing around in circles.

She went to him- singing more softly now- and looped her arms around his waist, letting herself sink deeper into the cool green water.

Within seconds he stopped resisting as she pulled him farther into the enchantment. He clung to her, his fingers digging into her milky moon kissed shoulders, his blue black eyes staring lovingly into hers. She kept singing, letting her voice take hold of him and caress him into a deep eternal sleep. His eyes drooped and finally closed and Blair watched as a stream of silvery bubbles gushed from his lips and his hold on her weakened.

When she was sure he was dead she reduced her song to a hum in her throat and pushed his limp body forcefully away from hers and down, watching it sink. She started swimming for the surface; she had sunk deeper than she realized and her chest was starting to ache from lack of oxygen. As she rose she watched a necklace sinking nearby. She could have sworn it was the Erickson Beamon necklace Chuck gave her.

She had her head turned back watching it sink, so she didn't see the body of a teenage boy falling towards her. Blair rammed headfirst into him and reeled back, shocked. She shook herself and rubbed the top of her head. When she opened her eyes after a second and looked at him, she had to clasp her hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping and ingesting lethal amounts of water.

Chuck Bass's pale face looked up at her; his eyes were closed and he was partly hidden by shadows, but it was unmistakably him. She quickly reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist to keep him from sinking any further. She just stared at him for a moment in disbelief, trying to figure out what to do next. She had to think fast.

Blair knew it was a violation of the Timahk to save him; he'd obviously heard the mermaids singing, but she couldn't leave him- after all she _did_ love him. She pulled him against her long body and swam for the surface. She wasn't sure if he was dead or alive but she hoped to god it wasn't too late.

When she surfaced she was still too close to the sinking yacht for comfort; someone from the tribe could see her. She looked down at him. His head was tilted back at an uncomfortable angle. She took advantage of this and used her free hand to feel for a pulse under his jaw. It was slow and faint but it was there. She knew she couldn't dive again- he needed air. She'd have to tow him along on the surface, which would slow her down but she didn't have a choice.

It was more difficult than she anticipated. The dead weight of his unconscious body made it difficult to keep both of their heads above the water. She swam on her back with him lying face up on her chest, his head resting in the crook of her neck. Blair knew she had to find a beach before she tired out, but one that was far enough away from the sinking yacht that no one from the tribe would see her.

Luckily it was a small island with lots of little beaches hidden by rocks. By the time she'd found one and placed him facedown on the rocky beach, she was exhausted.

Blair laid on her back breathing heavily, her heart pounding and the muscles in her tail aching.

She turned onto her stomach and shook him. "Chuck? Chuck, wake up". He didn't move. "Dammit, Chuck, come on wake up!" She shook him harder, still no movement.

She turned him over onto his back and placed her hands on both sides of his face.

"Chuck can you hear me?" she patted his cheek, he didn't move, nothing- not even an eyelid flicker. "Damn you," she muttered under her breath. She felt tears welling in her eyes.

She leaned up and covered his parted lips with hers, blowing air into his lungs. She was relying only on her instincts and what she'd seen in movies in years past. Blair continued this once, twice, three more times. As she pulled back the third time he finally started coughing. She rolled him back onto his stomach so the water in his lungs could drain out.

She rubbed his back as he coughed and spluttered. Blair looked around nervously; she had to get back- someone was bound to notice she was missing.

She looked back at him, her brow creased with worry. His eyes were closed and he was panting, his dark hair matted to his forehead and watery spit dripping from his mouth.

Chuck slowly opened his eyes and looked into her worried countenance. They stared at each other and she realized that in his confused and exhausted state he probably wouldn't recognize her immediately. She knew she looked different from the last time he'd seen her. For one thing she was far more beautiful than she had been as a human; all the mermaids had an unearthly beauty to them and even though she hadn't seen her reflection since she changed, she knew she had it.

He pulled his head back slowly to get a better look at her and squinted as he tried to place her. Suddenly his eyes grew large and he scrambled up the beach away from her.

"Take it easy," she soothed, reaching out to grab him. She was afraid he would try to stand. If he stumbled up the beach and fell she wouldn't be able to get to him; already he was almost out of her reach. He pulled back from her extended hand, gazing at her wide-eyed.

He'd recognized her then.

Blair didn't say anything for a few moments, just watched him. The longer she looked at him the more sure she was of what she was seeing. She squinted. No, it couldn't be- he had the Indication- the dark shimmering around his head and body that the mermaids had. She didn't have to look to see why he had it, she already knew. She then reached out her hand and softly brushed his shin. "Chuck?" she whispered.

He pulled back from her touch again and looked at her. "What are you then? A ghost? A hallucination?"

Blair looked down at the pebble beach, thinking, "I'm uh, kind of all of those things and none of them. I'm not a figment of your imagination if that's what you mean."

"What I mean is that I know you're not real- you're not my Blair, the real Blair is dead," he explained.

His Blair, she liked the sound of that. "I'm her, I wouldn't lie to you."

"Tell me something I only ever told her," he challenged, looking her dead in the eyes.

Blair paused and glanced down at her hands, trying to think of something that would be convincing, her tail flicking with concentration.

She looked back up at him, confidence flashing in her eyes. "Three words, eight letters, I love you."

 _He had told her he loved her the week before she left with her mother; they had been together 2 months at the time. He had taken her out to dinner and been a perfect gentleman, of course- until they'd gotten in the limo to go back to the Palace. It was there in the safety of that sacred vehicle that he'd pulled back from kissing her senseless and said, "Three words, eight letters, I love you."_

Chuck didn't say anything he just stared at her in bewilderment. Was this really the girl he loved, who was thought to be dead for almost a year?

He scooted down the beach and into the waves a little. He reached out a hand and brushed her cheek softly.

"Oh my god. You look so different, I mean- you're gorgeous, and here I thought you couldn't get any prettier", he breathed. His hand traveled from her cheek down her neck and over her shoulder.

"Really it's weird, you're so beautiful it almost hurts my eyes", he whispered, taking in every inch of her stunning face.

"Wait a minute this doesn't make sense," he snapped out of his daze and pulled his hand back.

"You died."

The words burned her, made her heart ache. But before she could answer him she heard Caterina's voice calling her from a short distance away.

She glanced nervously in the direction from where Caterina's voice had come and slid backwards into deeper water. "I'll be back, just, just... stay there ok?"

"Wait" he called. But it was too late- she had already dove, her silver tail flashing above the water.

Blair knew it wasn't the best idea to leave him alone on the beach after he'd almost drowned, but if Caterina saw him, she'd kick Blair out of the tribe and kill Chuck.

She raced back towards the wrecked yacht. She was in such a hurry she almost ran into Caterina's bright tail. She reeled back and surfaced.

"Where were you? We were worried", Caterina asked gently.

"There was a man, he was trying to swim for it- I took him down". Blair- always cool under pressure, lied- but it wasn't a complete lie. There had been someone trying to swim for the shore, she just conveniently left out the part about Chuck.


	2. Chapter 2

It was night before Blair was able to get away. All the others had been giddy with excitement, practically high on the adrenaline rush they got from sinking a ship. She had plastered on a fake smile and pretended to be just as giddy as the rest of them, when really all she wanted to do was just get back to Chuck and make sure he was ok. She tried to slip away unnoticed but one of the other mermaids had caught her and dragged her back to their game of "Who Could Jump The Highest".

As Blair slipped out of the line of sleeping mermaids in the cave that night, Samantha sat up partway and gazed sleepily through the darkness at her.

"Blair, where are you going?" She asked quietly.

"Oh I can't sleep, I was just going out to look at the stars, don't worry I won't go far", Blair assured her before slipping away under the water to prevent Samantha from asking further questions.

She sped through the smooth, black water and towards the island where the yacht had sunk. It took her a while to find the right beach where she left Chuck; there were so many and they all looked the same. She broke the surface of the water and pulled herself up the beach as far she could without her tail leaving the water. "Chuck!" she called.

He stalked out of the trees and towards the waters edge, stopping just out of her reach.

"What the fuck Blair? You can't just abandon me on an island. I almost drowned today. Do you get that I'm exhausted?" he crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest.

He did look tired; she could see in the dark better than he could and with the light from the full moon she could tell his eyes were tired and his shoulders drooped slightly.

"Yes of course I understand that you're exhausted," Blair hissed.

"But I couldn't let Caterina know about you. If she found out she'd kill you."

"What?"

"Look I'll explain everything, just... keep your voice down," She begged. She was afraid maybe Samantha had followed her; it wouldn't be out of character for her as she had a tendency to stick her nose in where it didn't belong.

"Why? There's no one around for miles." He quipped.

"Just sit down and shut up."

"Why?" he prodded.

Still the same stubborn Chuck Bass, she thought to herself. "Because we're going to be here awhile."

"Fine." He sighed heavily and sat down hard on the beach just out of her reach, crossing his legs.

She told him everything- all about what had happened to her, the mermaids and the Timahk. He kept interrupting to ask questions and she answered them as best she could. However, she soon realized she didn't know as much about mermaids she thought she did, so she made a mental note to ask Caterina more about mermaid history.

"So this set of rules…"

"The Timahk, yes," Blair filled in the word.

"Yeah the Timahk, it forbids you from saving any humans?" he questioned.

"Yes, any contact with humans. Speaking to or touching them is strictly forbidden. So what I did earlier- saving your life- could get me kicked out of my tribe and you killed," Blair explained.

His brows furrowed as he tried to understand all this. "Tell me again why your queen would have to kill me?"

"Because you know about us and she's convinced all humans are untrustworthy, so even though I know you would never tell anybody about us, she wouldn't believe that," she told him solemnly.

"Then why did you save me if you knew the consequences?" Chuck asked, his voice rising above the whisper they'd been speaking in.

"Because I couldn't just let you die, I love you!" she cried, exasperated.

Chuck sighed and scooted down into the water. "I love you too, you know that. Still- that was a very stupid thing you did; you said yourself that if this Caterina finds out about me it will have all been for naught."

"It was not stupid, it was heroic and romantic," she snapped, then paused.

"Ok maybe it was a little stupid," she added, looking down at her hands under the water and smiling shyly.

"Yeah it was," he told her, laughing.

When Blair looked back up at him she was met by his lips on hers. The kiss caught her off guard but after a moment she melted into it. It felt wonderful to kiss him again; she'd forgotten how soft his lips were and how gentle he was. His hands wove into her hair and brushed her cheeks softly. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down and closer.

Chuck rested his forehead on hers. "I guess I should probably try to take you back to shore," she whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah," he pulled back, but not before placing another quick kiss on her lips.

Blair started to slide back into the water but stopped and looked down at her hands clasped together tightly and took a deep breath.

"I know what you're thinking, but I can never change back. I'm going to be a mermaid forever, until I die," she looked back up at him again, waiting for his response.

"Where'd that come from?" was all he said.

"I know you and trust me- I wish more than anything there was a way but changing back, it would kill me."

"Why?" he asked, terrified by the thought of her dying.

"The pain from my tail drying out, it would stop my heart."

Blair paused for a moment and let him absorb the information. She started speaking again before he could.

"But you remember how I told you all mermaids have a sort of dark sparkling, an aura around us and that when we look at each other out of the corner of our eye we can see the events that changed us?" he nodded.

"And how, before a girl changes, she has the 'dark sparkling'?" He nodded again, eyeing her cautiously.

She took another deep breath and looked down, avoiding his piercing gaze. She was painfully aware of how completely insane what she was about to say sounded. "You have the Indication as we call it, the dark sparkling."

He stared at her for a moment in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous Blair of course I don't."

"Chuck I can see it and I know what I'm looking at, it's unmistakable."

"So what are you saying? That any day now I could change into, what? A merman?" he snapped sarcastically, looking at her like she had two heads.

"Look I don't know if boys even can change, but if there's a chance you could, wouldn't you want to try?"

"I don't want to talk about this now, can you just... take me back to the mainland please?" he begged, avoiding the question and eye contact.

Blair knew it was probably too much for him to process in such a short amount of time. She nodded, holding back tears, slid into shallow water and cleared her throat. "Ok… um, I have to swim underwater, it's much faster, but... it's not gonna be easy on you," she looked at him apologetically.

"I'll be fine," he assured her, standing up and wading out.

"You're exhausted and weak. I don't want to hurt you."

"I'll be fine," he told her brusquely, obviously upset about her remark.

When he reached her, she grabbed him tightly around his waist and held him close. "Just take a deep breath and when you need air again tap my shoulder. But try to hold it for as long as you can," she instructed.

Blair dove and swam towards the mainland with Chuck holding tightly to her. It took much longer than she anticipated, as he required frequent surfacing to breathe. By the time she reached the beach near the small town of Pitt Lee, he was almost unconscious and she knew he'd ingested water. She laid him on the beach as she had done before, on his stomach so he could expel the water in his lungs.

She lay there next to him until he was strong enough to stand up, then without a goodbye, she started to slip away under the waves.

"Blair, wait," she stopped and looked back at him.

He sighed deeply. "Ask your queen if there's anyway you could help me." He didn't have to say the word for her to know what he meant.

Chuck shifted his weight and looked down at his hands "I mean, I don't really have anything to go back to in New York,; my father's dead, my mother's dead; you're here..."

"What about Nate, you guys are still friends, right?"

"When you and I started dating he kind of shut me out. I haven't spoken to him in a really long time."

Blair swam back to the shore, scraping her stomach against the pebbles. She reached her hand up to him and he took it, crouching down to face her.

"I'll talk to Caterina," she smiled faintly at him and leaned up to kiss him.

"Meet me here tomorrow. I probably won't be able to get away from the others until early evening," she explained, slipping away from him and into deeper water. He nodded.

Before she dove she pointed to a opening in the cliffs. "Just head up that way; there's a town called Pitt Lee right up there." He turned to look where Blair was pointing then looked back at her, nodding.

"I love you," were his parting words to her.

"I love you too," she called before flashing away under the cool, silky waves.

Chuck watched the water for a few moments after she disappeared, then turned back towards the cliffs and looked at the opening where she had directed him to climb up. He made his way over to the spot and tried to climb up it but lost his footing and slid down.

This happened five more times and right as he was about to give up he saw a light up on the cliffs. A flashlight? He watched it; it came closer and became brighter. The silhouette of a man's head became visible on top of the cliff a moment later.

"Hey!" Chuck called, waving to get the man's attention. "Hey, down here!"

The man stopped and shone his flashlight out over the cliff, almost blinding Chuck. He walked over to the edge of the cliff and peered down. "What the hell are you doing down there?"

"Well, I appear to be stuck; I've tried climbing up there," Chuck pointed to the opening in the cliffs, "and each time I've fallen on my ass and felt like complete idiot."

"Come on, I'll give you a hand." The man walked over and reached down. Chuck climbed up the slippery bank and grabbed the man's hand and was hoisted up.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his hands on Chuck's upper arms to steady him.

"Yes I suppose…" Chuck shook himself and wiped off the front of his polo shirt, not that that would remove any of the dirt and grass stains; it was purely out of habit.

The man took his hands off Chuck and peered at him closer, looking at his soaking wet and dirty clothes. "Are you sure you're ok? What happened?"

Chuck was quiet for a few moments thinking. He couldn't tell the man about Blair and what really happened, so we thought it best to play the tired and slightly confused sunken ship survivor.

"I... uh was on a yacht with my father; it sunk."

"My god... Wait- you don't mean the Fieldman yacht do you? Cause I heard about that, went off the radar around 3 o'clock this afternoon, near an island about 2 miles out."

"That would be the one," Chuck answered, quietly.

"I'm Ethan Schrock," he extended his hand towards Chuck.

Chuck grasped Ethan's hand and shook firmly. "Chuck Bass."

"Look son, I'm sure you're exhausted, your clothes are wet and completely ruined, plus you can't very well stay out here. So why don't you come back to my house, my wife will get you some dry clothes and a place to sleep, in the morning you can call your family," Ethan suggested. Chuck considered this- he seemed nice enough and it's not like Chuck had anywhere else to go.

"Ok," Chuck agreed and they started walking along the cliffs.

They walked for what must've been 10 minutes along a path that soon turned into a road to the outskirts of a small town that Chuck assumed to be Pitt Lee.

"What are you doing out here walking on the cliffs in the middle the night?" Chuck asked.

"I was over at a buddy's house," Ethan explained, without taking his eyes off the road in front of them. Chuck nodded without replying.

They came to a small one-story white house. Ethan walked in first, stopping right inside the door and taking off his boots. He led Chuck down a short hallway and to the left, into a warm and well- lit kitchen. It was small, with a dining table in the middle. On the other side of the table was the stove, sink and refrigerator. A woman with black wavy hair that fell to her waist stood in front of the sink.

"Maria," Ethan got her attention and she turned around to face them. She had a small nose, icy blue eyes and high cheekbones that gave her in almost elfish look. Her features reminded Chuck of Georgina but she looked to be no older than Lily.

She looked from Ethan to Chuck and back again, startled to see someone with her husband. "Who's this?"

"You know the yacht that went missing this afternoon?" Ethan asked her. she nodded.

He gestured towards Chuck "This is Chuck Bass, he was on it; found him washed up on the beach on my way back from Jacobs."

"Oh my god," she gasped, dropping the hand towel she'd been holding and walking over to Chuck. She started inspecting him like a worried mother. Walking around him and looking over his hands, arms, head and face to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"Are you ok?" she asked, pulling back and looking him directly in the eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine, just shaken up and tired," Chuck told her, pulling his hands out of her grasp.

"Oh um, you can stay in our guest room if you'd like and I'll get you some dry clothes. You can call your family in the morning," Maria suggested, sweetly.

Chuck accepted the offer, relieved at the prospect of getting some sleep. She turned back to Ethan. "There's leftovers in the fridge if you're still hungry," She looks back at Chuck. "Are you hungry dear?"

"No" he answered politely.

"Alright come on." She walked out of the kitchen and led him down the hallway and into a small bedroom. The decor in the room looked like it hadn't been updated since the 80s. The walls were painted a soft green, there were old yellowish lace curtains hanging over the windows and the bedspread was covered in tiny pink roses and birds. It all reminded Chuck of something you'd find in a nursing home.

"I'll go find you some dry clothes," Maria offered before hurrying out of the room. She came back moments later with a white cotton T-shirt and some sweatpants which she laid on the bed. "You need anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"Ok I'll see you in the morning." She walked over to the door to leave, then stopped.

"Oh, and the bathroom is right across the hall." With that she closed the door leaving Chuck in the poorly decorated room.

He put on the clothes Maria had bought him and draped his wet and muddy ones over a chair in the corner of the room, placing his shoes on the floor next to the chair. He climbed into the bed and lay on his back for a while staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. There was still a small part of him that doubted the beautiful girl he'd seen was Blair; it seemed too ridiculous, like something out of a fairytale. But if it was her, and if everything she told him was true- if he really did have the Indication or whatever Blair called it, then by this time tomorrow he may have a very big decision to make. Finally he turned onto his side. It took him a while to fall asleep, even as tired as he was, but finally he fell into a restless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning at the dining beach Blair sat in her usual spot next to Caterina on the sofa shaped rock.

"Cat, can I ask you something?" Blair cracked a mussel and slipped it into her mouth.

"Of course," Caterina told her, smiling, her gray eyes soft.

"Is it possible for a boy who has the Indication, to change?"

Caterina paused, her hand frozen in the air as she lifted it to crack a mussel. "Why are you asking me this?" She asked quietly. Her accent sounded thicker than had a moment before.

"I've just always wondered," Blair lied. "I mean- you told me that boys get the Indication but that was it, you never said any more on the subject."

Caterina finished cracking the mussel and put it in her mouth, swallowing before she spoke. "Yes, it is possible but..."

"Really?" Blair asked excitedly, forgetting her manners and interrupting.

Caterina held up her hand to quiet Blair. "I've only seen it done once, many years ago," Cat continued, but Blair interrupted her again, her excitement at the prospect of helping Chuck getting the better of her.

"Was it queen Marina?" She remembered Caterina telling her how wonderful a singer Marina was, how she was the best Caterina had ever heard. And Blair imagined that if anyone would be able to change a boy into a merman it was Marina.

"Blair do you want to hear the story or not?" Caterina snapped.

"Yes of course, I'm sorry," Blair looked down sheepishly and leaned over to pick a piece of seaweed. She started nibbling on it as Caterina continued.

"No, it wasn't Marina, though there was a boy Marina tried to change but she wasn't able to and she died trying."

Blair waited patiently for Katerina to continue.

"I was in a tribe before Marina's. Our queen was desperately in love with a boy she'd known on land. He had the Indication. And she was able to change him, but it almost killed her too and it took all night. She was so weak the next morning he had to carry her back to the cave."

Blair shivered at the idea of having to sing for that long. She knew from a another story Caterina had told her of the emotional hell one had to go through to change a metaskaza.

"Did the rest of you help her?" Blair asked.

"We offered but she wanted to do it on her own; she was very stubborn. So we stayed in the cave and listened to that heartbreaking song all night. None of us could sleep."

Neither of them spoke for a few moments as they sat there eating quietly.

"What happened to them?" Blair finally asked.

Caterina sighed, obviously tired of the subject. "About two months later, our tribe was attacked by orcas. He was killed and she couldn't handle losing him. It was two days before she pulled herself on shore." Caterina's voice was so quiet and her accent was so thick, Blair could barely understand her.

"I left the tribe after that, I couldn't stand to stay and be reminded of all that had happened there and that was when I found Marina's."

There was still one thing Blair wanted to know. she wasn't sure she should ask though; she could tell Caterina didn't wish to discuss it further. Blair glanced down at her hands folded in her lap before timidly asking, "What was his singing like? Could even he sing?"

Caterina sighed again deeply before begrudgingly answering, "His song was different than ours, deeper of course, but it had a different rhythm to it, a different enchantment that seemed to affect women and girls more. After he joined our tribe we were able to take down much larger ships; his voice seemed more powerful than ours, and it took him a while to stop being afraid of it. He kept saying it felt like it was going to take over his body,"

Blair was quiet for a moment, finishing off the piece of seaweed she was eating.

"And you're positive you're remembering all this correctly?" She pressed, wanting to make absolutely sure that the story Caterina was telling her was true. She didn't want to meet Chuck that evening and tell him all of this, only to find out changing him wouldn't work.

"Blair, of course I'm sure. You think I'd forget something like that? Why do you even care so much?"

"I was just curious, that's all." Blair turned back to the small pile of mussels to her left and picked up another one, praying Caterina would simply go back to eating and not question her anymore as to why she was suddenly so interested in this particular topic.

Chuck awoke and glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand, 12:00 pm. He'd never slept this late in his life. It made sense, though he'd slept like absolute shit the night before. He kept having strange and disturbingly vivid dreams, all of Blair. In one he was drowning; he could see her swimming towards him, her long silver and blue tail flicking out behind her. He would try to swim up towards her and grasp her hand, but no matter how hard he kicked against the water he seemed to sink deeper and he could never reach her outstretched hand.

In another he lay on the surface of the water, the waves lapping around his face. He could feel Blair's arms around him, holding him. His body felt weird, almost like it was made of water and he couldn't move, only stare up into her dark eyes and listen as she sang to him.

It was her inhuman song that had tormented him the most ever since he heard it the day before. He was starting to understand why no one who heard it was supposed to live. It was driving him crazy, almost giving him a headache.

He rolled out of the bed slowly, still tired. He looked at the chair where he left his clothes the night before and found that Maria had left new ones: a cotton blue and green oxford shirt and jeans. He could only remember one other time when he'd worn jeans. He was six and his nanny had dressed him, she had insisted he looked fine but he had complained the whole ride to school that morning that he looked like a suburban nobody. Suffice to say that was the last time she ever picked out his clothes.

After changing into the clothes Maria had left him and placing the ones he'd been wearing back on the chair, he noticed that his clothes from the day before were gone.

He walked out of the bedroom and down the hall, into the kitchen, expecting there to be no one there and maybe a note on the table telling him they'd gone to work. Instead he saw Maria sitting by the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her left hand and a book called Outlander in her right.

She looked up from the book when he entered the room. "Morning. You sleep well?"

"Yes," he lied, smoothly. It wasn't her fault he hadn't slept well. She couldn't do anything about the fact that his mermaid girlfriend's magical siren song had messed with his head. He still felt it would be impolite to tell her the truth.

"You want some breakfast? I made sure to save you some," she offered, closing her book and placing it on the table next to her coffee.

"Please, yes." Chuck pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down, as Maria got up and went over to the counter, pulled out a mug and poured him some coffee, placing it in front of him on the table.

"Where are you from?" she asked, going back over to the fridge and pulling out a Tupperware container filled with what looked like scrambled eggs.

He took a sip of coffee before answering. "I was born and raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan."

"How'd you end up all the way up here?" Maria spooned some of the eggs into a frying pan on the stove, then got out a loaf of bread and stuck a piece in the toaster.

Chuck was quiet for a moment, staring down into his coffee. He looked back up at her. "My father has a friend slash business associate in Anchorage; when he visits him sometimes they take the yacht out. My dad sort of dragged me along this time, said he wanted me to start learning the ropes so when I inherit his business I know what the hell I'm doing.

Maria nodded slowly. "Yeah, the locals around here- we don't go near that island."

Chuck cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

She turned back towards the stove and stirred of the contents of the frying pan. "There are stories- some thousands of years old- about sirens living in the waters off the coast here."

As Chuck listened to her speak, his eyes grew wide and his brows furrowed.

"Folklore of course, but still a surprising number of ships sink near that island, so the locals don't go near it."

Maria told him story after story that had been passed down through the generations. He started to zone out after awhile, letting his mind wander to the question of whether he wanted to stay with Blair or go home. When he thought about it, Blair was his home, she was all he wanted, he didn't want to go back to New York. What was left for him New York? The boring, unhappy and lonely life of a Upper East side businessman?

He didn't have any friends or family to go back to either. Sure there was Lily and she was, no doubt, already heartbroken over the news of Bart- if she knew about it- and if he didn't come back, god knows what it might do to her. But _Blair_ was here. He decided that even if she couldn't change him that he would stay here. He couldn't live without her again and no matter what she told him this evening he would stay in Alaska with her.

It was 2 o'clock before Maria ended the storytelling and asked him if he wanted to call someone at home. Chuck knew it would look odd if he declined, so he called Lily.

She answered on the third ring. _"Hello?"_

"Lily? I want you to know that I'm ok and-" she interrupted him.

 _"Charles? Oh thank god, are you all right? Where are you? What happened?"_

"I'm ok, um, I'm in Alaska."

 _"What happened? Is your father ok?"_ she sounded on the verge of tears.

"Uh..." Chuck rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He didn't like being the bearer of bad news.

"Our yacht crashed into an island, Bart's dead. I think I'm the only survivor." He heard Lily cry out in shock on the other end.

 _"It'll be ok,"_ she was crying now. _"I'm sending the Bass jet. I'll be there at 8 AM tomorrow, you're coming home."_

She kept rambling. _"What large town are you closest to?"_

Chuck sighed. "Anchorage."

 _"Are you safe? Do you have a place to stay for the night?"_

"Yeah, I'm ok," he assured her.

 _"Ok, I'll see you 8 AM sharp tomorrow morning, Anchorage airport,"_ she choked out through her sobs then hung up before he had a chance to argue.

Chuck lied to Maria and said he was tired and wanted to take a nap, when really he had to get away from her. He hadn't intended to fall asleep but he had, and didn't wake again until night had fallen. When he got up he made sure the bedroom door was locked before climbing out the window as quietly as possible. He dropped into the short bushes below the window and switched on the flashlight he'd found in the nightstand drawer.

He jogged down the road along the cliffs that he and Ethan had walked the night before. It took him a while but finally he found the opening in the cliffs and he was able to slide down to the beach.

He shone the flashlight out over the waves, looking for her.

"Blair," he called quietly.

There was a splash from around some rocks to his left. Blair's lovely face poked out from around the rock before she swam up to the shore.

"You came," she breathed as she reached her hand up to him. He crouched in front of her and grasped it, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss.

"Of course I came, why wouldn't I?" Chuck studied her eyes in the light from the waxing moon.

"I was afraid maybe you were on a plane back to New York."

Chuck was quiet for a moment. "Not yet at least, but I talked to Lily today. The Bass jet is flying into Anchorage; I'm to be on it at 8 AM tomorrow morning."

Her eyes widened in fear. "What?"

He only nodded in response, before changing the subject. "Did you talk to your queen?"

Blair stared at him as he moved from a crouching position to sitting on the beach, still holding her hand tight in his own. She shook herself out of her shock at the knowledge that he was leaving early tomorrow.

"Yes I talked with Caterina. She told me a story about a tribe she was in many years ago... and how their queen was able to change a boy."

"Are you serious?" Chuck's face brightened with hope.

Blair nodded. "Chuck, have you thought about this? I mean- if I change you, have you thought about what that means?"

"It means that I would never have to go back to New York again. It means that I would be with you, right?"

"It _means_ you'd be a merman for the rest of your life. Your physical body changes and you can't ever change back." Blair looked up at him desperately; she had to make absolutely sure he knew what he was getting himself into if they tried this. She didn't want him to wake up 10 years down the line full of regret.

"I've had all day and night to think about this, and if there's any way I can stay here with you, I want to take that chance." He stared into her deep brown eyes.

Blair glanced down at their intertwined hands. "I just don't want you to wake up one day in 10 years full of regret, ok? You'll never grow up; you're going to be 16 for the rest of your life."

Chuck lifted her chin up so she would make eye contact with him. "Blair you have to believe me when I say that there is nothing I want more in this world than to spend the rest of my life with you."

Blair, still doubting him, shook her head. "Chuck, we haven't even been together that long, I mean how can you be sure this is going to last? How can you be sure I'm everything you want- that there isn't a girl better suited for you waiting back in New York?"

"Because I love you." He spoke the words firmly and without hesitation.

"And because this last year of thinking you were dead was the worst year of my life. The minute I found out about the sinking was the minute I realized you were the only woman I would ever want to be with. For months after that, I was closed off, I tried to drown my sorrow in alcohol and women," his voice trembled as he finished speaking.

Blair reached her hand up and brushed a strand of hair off his forehead. "Chuck Bass is a romantic, who knew?"

He leaned into her soft touch. "Well now you do, that's all that matters."

They were both quiet for a few minutes, just studying each other's faces.

"How do we proceed?" Chuck finally asked, quietly.

"Ok are you _sure_ about this?" Blair had asked.

"Yes."

She stared at him for a moment before speaking. "I have to sing you into the change."

"What does that mean?" he looked at her, confused.

"If a metaskaza doesn't change on her own, then it's possible for another mermaid to help her change by singing to her. But it isn't just singing; you have to feel all the pain that caused your own transformation and sing the metaskaza into her change with that pain."

The concern was evident on Chuck's face. She took his hand, pulling him out into deeper water with her. "I'll be ok."

She swam out far enough so no one on land would hear her. She had him float in the water and placed her right hand under his neck and her left around his waist, holding him up.

"Before you change you'll start to feel very, very cold... like your heart is turning into ice, and you'll get the notion you have a choice, you can choose to let the cold overcome you or resist it, when that happens just let go." She wanted him to know what the transformation would feel like. She remembered when she changed, the cold feeling had scared her and she tried to resist it at first.

Chuck nodded and stared up at her nervously. She smiled faintly at him and kissed his forehead, then looked up at the glittering night sky, gathering her strength.

Blair closed her eyes and went to the place in her brain she tried for a year to close off. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, letting out the first notes of a silky, heartbreaking song.

Her voice leapt out over the waves. The abandonment she'd felt when her father left, the betrayal she'd felt when she found out about Nate and Serena, the sting of her mother's harsh words and unacceptance; she expressed it all through that song. It rose high and crested with soft rippling notes, before tumbling down and snaking around Chuck in beautiful satiny notes.

It coiled around his very soul, extracting from the deepest, darkest parts of him the guilt he felt about his mother, the desperate need he felt to please his father, the general loneliness of his young life, the heartbreak when Nate stopped talking to him and depression when Blair disappeared.

She let the music pull them deeper into their brokenness. It was almost an hour before she felt him start to waiver. She looked down at him. His eyes were closed and he was flickering between being water and being human. Blair watched him closely as her voice climbed higher. Before long he melted into a pool of living water and disappeared completely from sight. She knew exactly what was happening and kept singing. She closed her eyes and drew a breath before hitting a note so high it could've shattered glass. Her song then tumbled down again; down, down, down before shattering and sprinkling out over the sea.

She kept her eyes closed for a few minutes, catching her breath. She was shaking and tears were slipping down her cheeks. Finally she opened her eyes; the weight from Chuck's new body too much for her to hold in her weakened state.

She looked down at his elegant form. His tail looked dark gray with bright flecks of gold and a soft lavender shimmer on all the scales. 'Lavender of course, what other color?' Blair thought to herself. She let her gaze travel up his bare chest to his face. His skin had a soft silver glow like hers, but it was his face that made a small smile appear on her lips.

He was gorgeous. Sure he'd been handsome before, but now he had the unearthly beauty the others had. She had wondered if it was something that only happened to girls and wanted to ask Caterina about it earlier but Cat had started asking too many questions and Blair had panicked.

She shook him gently. "Chuck? Chuck wake up."

He shifted slightly in her arms and groaned, before slowly opening his eyes and staring up into her tired ones. Chuck reached up and grabbed hold of her shoulders, pulling himself upright. She let go of his waist but kept one arm firmly around his upper arm, remembering how she'd felt right after she changed. It had taken her a few minutes to get used to her new body.

Chuck wobbled slightly, his tail flicking out of the water sporadically, spraying droplets over them.

"Easy, just slow flicks, ok," She instructed. Chuck did as she said and after a moment he pulled away from her.

He lifted the end of his tail out of the water, exposing the sensitive fins and ran his fingers over them.

"Wow, they're weird. Sensitive," he observed quietly, eyes glued to his new tail.

Blair nodded. "Yeah, like cat's whiskers."

He turned to look at her and upon seeing her pale, exhausted face, dropped his tail back in the water and swim over to her.

"You're shaking," he stroked her upper arms lovingly. "Are you ok? Shit it was too much for you wasn't it?"

"Hey, hey" she reached up and brushed his cheek gently. "I'll be fine, I just need to get some sleep."

"Where? We're kind of in the middle of the ocean here." His fascination with his new body was gone and he was now only concerned with her well-being.

"Earlier this afternoon I took the liberty of finding a cave just for us up the coast a bit, not too far from the main cave where the tribe lives. I knew if I changed you I wouldn't want to take you back to the main cave right away."

"Do you think you'll be able to swim?" She reached under the water and brushed the smooth scales on his hip.

"I'll figure this out, what I want to know now is if _you'll_ be able to swim?"

"Yes, it won't take much energy." Chuck, not understanding how swimming all the way back to shore couldn't take much energy, gave her a strange look and she added "You'll see, come on."

Blair took his hand, preparing to dive. "You only need one breath."

Chuck nodded and inhaled. She dove, pulling him down with her.

She led them back towards the shore. Chuck, even though he was still metaskaza, kept up with her and before long she was able to let go of his hand. She looked over at him. He was smiling wildly, enjoying the strength of his tail and the feel of the cool water parting around him.

The opening to the cave was a tight fit. They had to squeeze in and pull themselves the rest of the way through. Once inside, it opened into an oval-shaped chamber, just big enough for the two of them.

Chuck gazed around and up at the ceiling. There was a crack, large enough to see the stars and allow a stream of light in, but still small.

"How did you find this place?" he asked turning to look at her. She'd already laid down on the pebble beach and the waves were rocking her tired body.

"I swam up and down the coast all afternoon looking for a place just like this."

He swam over and lay down next to her, gazing into her eyes. "How did you find it again just now?"

She shrugged and yawned, her eyelids heavy with fatigue. "I don't know, I guess I have a better sense of direction then I thought I did."

Chuck pulled her close to him so her head was tucked under his chin. He kissed the top of her head. She curled into him, wrapping her tail around his and started humming quietly. A sonic cradle took hold of them and they fell into a deep restful sleep, the sea lulling them from side to side.

Blair awoke to Chuck softly kissing her face. She stifled a yawn and stretched her arms above her head, the fins at the end of her tail contracting and expanding as she flexed them awake.

She opened her eyes and gazed up into his. He smiled sweetly down at her.

"Good morning," she reached her hand up and traced the sharp line of his jaw.

"Good morning," he answered, leaning down, he kissed her lips softly.

When he pulled back she asked, "Are you hungry? Cause I'm starving."

"Yeah I could eat. What _do_ we eat?"

"Uh..." Blair thought for a moment.

"Mussels, seaweed. Mostly shellfish, sometimes a crab if we can catch it." She took Chuck's hand and slid into deeper water.

"The rest of the tribe will be at the dining beach- where we're going."

"Yeah I figured as much, they're gonna freak out when they see me aren't they?"

"No… well yeah, probably a little bit," Blair smiled nervously.

"Mermen are almost nonexistent."

She started to dive but stopped. "Oh- and _never_ look at Caterina out of the corner of your eye."

He looked confused and had obviously forgotten what she told him about the dark shimmering around mermaids.

"Mermaids all have a dark sparkling around them. You know that, right?" He nodded.

"Well when you look at a them out of the corner of your eye, in that dark shimmering you can see why they changed. It's considered impolite and while none of the other mermaids will do anything, some may look away, ashamed. Caterina will probably slap you, not hard enough to hurt but..."

"Good to know," Chuck kissed her on the forehead before pulling her under with him.

Blair led him to the dining beach but right before they surfaced she stopped him. "Wait down here, I'll tell you when to come up."

Chuck didn't say anything, just nodded and kissed the back of her hand. She smiled shakily at him and swam towards the surface. Everybody was there, sitting around the beach eating peacefully. Blair grabbed Chuck's hand under the water and quickly swam over to Caterina.

"Blair, thank goodness! Where were you? I woke up this morning and you were gone; you had me scared half to death!" Caterina dropped the mussel she'd been cracking open and slid off the sofa shaped rock. She placed her hands on Blair's cheeks and looked her face over, making sure she was ok.

She gently removed Caterina's elegant hands from her cheeks. "I need to show you something," she turned to look at the rest of the mermaids and raised her voice. "Actually I need to show you _all_ something."

Blair took a deep breath before gently pulling on Chuck's hand, signaling him to surface. He did and bobbed behind Blair.

Samantha and Kaylee screamed. Caterina lurched backwards and her tail flipped out of the water, almost hitting Blair in the face. Cat gaped at them. The rest of the mermaids froze and stared at Chuck in the bewilderment.

"Everyone this is Chuck Bass," Blair introduced him and looked nervously around at the group of girls. She signaled to Chuck, cueing him to show his tail to the stunned mermaids. Chuck pulled away from her and stretched out on the surface of the water so the girls could see that he was really one of them and wouldn't hurt them.

Blair noticed that the older girls quickly and awkwardly wrapped their arms around their bare chests.

Caterina, not bothering to cover herself, quickly regained her composure and swam closer to Blair and Chuck.

"Let me see." She needed to feel his fins to believe they were real and she wasn't dreaming.

Chuck lifted the end of his tail out of the water and Caterina quickly grasped the translucent fins at the end. After a thorough and fast inspection she let go and he dropped it back in the water. Caterina then turned and looked at Blair, curiosity and determination flashing in her eyes.

"Blair I knew you were a wonderful singer but, my god," Katerina paused and looked between Chuck and Blair. "How do you know each other?"

Chuck answered before Blair could. "We've known each other since we were little. She's my girlfriend and I love her, very much."

Caterina nodded slowly and swam back to the sofa shaped rock.

"Come, tell me everything," she motioned for them to join her.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Dialogue used by characters other than Chuck and Blair belong to the author of the Lost Voices book trilogy.**

Over the next few weeks Blair spent her days trying to get the tribe to accept Chuck- which they were, slowly but surely. After Blair and Chuck told Caterina everything and even though Blair had broken one of the most important rules in the Timahk by saving Chuck, Caterina seemed to have forgotten that and welcomed him with open arms. The rest of the girls, however, had been more stand-offish. A few of them-like Luce, the newest mermaid- almost seemed to be afraid of him. One sunny afternoon as the tribe lounged at the dining beach Blair had let Luce slip into the corner of her eye, after which she understood why Luce found Chuck slightly intimidating. Blair learned that in Luce's human life she hadn't exactly had the best of luck with men.

Chuck and Blair decided that until the tribe accepted him fully they would sleep in the small cave she brought him to after she changed him. There in the safety of that chamber, he practiced singing.

Chuck had, just as Blair suspected, had an incredible voice. He wasn't afraid of it like the boy in the story Caterina told her. He embraced it; let his music take him where it wanted. He was also able to pull it back, get it control of it again completely after letting it spiral up and out on its own.

They spent an hour, sometimes more every night, singing together. They discovered new ways to bend and meld their voices. It started with Blair teaching Chuck how to keep a handle on it. He figured that out very quickly and then they started experimenting with new melodies. Last night they'd even tried coming up with a new version of the death song.

The tribe had only sunk one ship in this time, a Coast Guard boat that had wandered too close to their territory and been spotted by Caterina. Cat had been right when she said that a merman's voice affected women more than men. The few women aboard the Coast Guard boat had dove into the water as soon as they'd heard Chuck's singing and before the boat crashed into the rocks and broke apart.

"Caterina said to get you three," Kaylee sounded embarrassed. Blair lolled against Chuck's chest as the waves gently swayed them up and down against the pebble beach in the main cave. She was in the middle of a conversation with Luce, when Kaylee interrupted.

"There's something weird going on- I mean, Caterina wants you guys to help," Kaylee explained.

"With what? Another boat?" Luce snapped sarcastically before Chuck or Blair could answer Kaylee's request. Blair had noticed that since they sunk the Coast Guard boat Luce had been quiet and seemed terribly mad at Caterina.

Kaylee looked frightened. "It's not that, we wouldn't do two boats that close together."

"What's the matter Kaylee?" Chuck asked her, gently.

"Ok have you heard of more than one metaskaza showing up at once?" Kaylee had obviously forgotten that two of the three people she was talking to were very new.

"So how crazy is it that there are 14 just floating out in the middle of the ocean? They're all kind of bobbing out there and they won't come back to the cave, they're so freaked out that they'll barely even talk to us."

Kaylee continued nervously. "So Caterina thought that since two of you were just metaskaza yourselves, maybe you could help. They're near where we eat but out far enough that the orcas could get them."

Blair turned and looked at Chuck before dipping below the water and speeding out of the tunnel. Chuck hesitated.

"Come on Luce," he encouraged before flashing away and following his girlfriend.

Kaylee looked back at Luce, pleading.

"Fine," Luce groaned.

When they found the group of terrified mermaids they had drifted out past the island where Chuck's yacht had sunk. They were clinging to each other so tightly that they moved in a sort of raft on top of the water, and you couldn't see the ones in the middle.

Watching them huddle together made Blair envious. She realized for the first time in a year just how much she missed Serena. She may have been angry at her when she changed, but Serena was still her best friend- her sister even- and she missed the close bond they shared.

Kaylee and Blair hung back as Chuck and Luce approached the group cautiously. A girl with dark skin and a full rose-shaped mouth glared at them as they swam closer. There was another girl Blair assumed was the first dark skinned girl's sister. They looked almost exactly alike. She looked friendlier than her sister, but was busy comforting a small feeble-looking blonde.

"Hey," Luce greeted the dark girl. She was glaring so ferociously at all of them that Luce felt intimidated. Chuck, noticing Luce's shift in demeanor, swam in front of her.

"Are you from one of the towns near here?" he asked the angry girl. He knew she might be hesitant to talk to him.

The girl was shocked by Chuck's question. It didn't surprise him; he'd known Caterina long enough to know she probably wouldn't ask them anything about their human life.

"Hinton," she snapped.

Luce moved up next to Chuck.

"I lived in Pitt Lee," she was trying to sound casual. "I bet there's lots more to do in Hinton."

Chuck slowly swam back over to Blair and Kaylee, letting Luce take over trying to persuade the new mermaids to come back to the cave.

Chuck looped his arms around Blair's waist and let the dark girl slip into the corner of his eye, he could just make out what looked like a fire before the picture blurred as he looked from one girl to the next.

"You were all living together?" Luce asked. The girl looked insulted.

"We were all in a home," The girl snapped, defensively, expecting one of them to say something mean. "We don't have parents."

"I don't either," Luce told her, trying to ease the tension.

"Me neither," Chuck added from his place tucked into the crook of Blair's neck.

"Now I'm living with some other girls and him," Luce gestured towards Chuck. "I guess it's like a home, except there aren't any adults, so no one tells us what to do."

Blair and Chuck understood how completely ridiculous it all seemed, how hard it would be for all the new mermaids to accept what had happened to them, even with their tails right there. But it was kind of hard to see the tails; they were hidden by the sunlight in the waves and the rippling water.

"It's not safe out here, you should come back with us- that way you can all get some sleep," Luce offered, they all looked exhausted and some of the smaller ones were starting to cry. The ones in the middle were squirming to get a better look Luce, and a few glanced over at Chuck and Blair, studying the way he held her as they bobbed up and down with the waves.

"That redheaded nutcase said the same thing," the girl was shaking her head stubbornly. "But we have a plan, we can float if we just hold onto each other and so we're going to wait for a boat to rescue us."

Blair wanted tell the girl that they could swim to shore easily on their own, but she kept her mouth shut, knowing the girl didn't need to hear that yet. Plus it seemed like a bad idea to tell them that being rescued would kill them.

"I'm Luce. That's Chuck and Blair, and Kaylee." Luce suddenly felt the need to introduce the four of them and she hoped by introducing her own friends, the dark girl would understand that Luce thought she was in charge. "Would you introduce your friends?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, very cautious of the four weirdos just floating in the middle of the ocean.

"You should leave us alone, I already told your crazy friend that we don't need help."

Chuck buried his face into Blair's neck, stifling a chuckle. It was pretty obvious these girls _did_ need their help. Blair turned and kissed his temple, stroking the back of his neck gently.

What the girl said next made Blair thankful she had Chuck. It also made her miss Serena even more.

"We know how to take care of each other."

"You're lucky," Luce told her and Blair thought it sounded like Luce was about to cry. The catch in her voice caught the attention of the friendlier looking sister. The girl looked at Luce then held out her hand "I'm Dana."

Luce smiled and swam over. "What? Are you on some sort of crazy swim team?" Dana asked.

"I noticed that about your friend and them" she pointed at Chuck, Blair and Kaylee. "They swim incredibly well."

It dawned on the four of them that these girls did not realize they were mermaids. Even if they saw their own tails, they'd probably just say it was a fish in the water.

Blair swam over to Luce and Dana, dragging Chuck with her, since he wouldn't let go of her waist.

"I bet you're faster," Blair wanted to sound playful and friendly. "Wanna race?"

Dana looked at her sister nervously. Her twin was pursing her lips into a tight line. "I suck at sports, everything except track. I mean I barely dog paddle," she explained. But Blair was good at reading people and she could tell Dana really did want to race.

"I sucked at everything except field hockey. But I'll tell you a secret, you can go a lot faster if you swim underwater," Blair told her, smiling.

Dana didn't look convinced. Blair looked around and saw a piece of driftwood floating nearby. "What about just to that piece of wood and back?"

Dana glanced back at her sister who was scowling, then decided she wanted to race Blair.

"If you give me a head start," Dana bargained. "I'm not training for the Olympics like you or whatever."

Blair nodded, smiling at her. Dana pulled away from her friends and dove. She came up a moment later almost 50 yards past the log, looking around in confusion. A moment later, after prying Chuck off of herself, Blair caught up to Dana.

"Wasn't that fun?" she asked, Dana looked terrified.

"What just happened?" Dana asked, shakily. "Something's really wrong with me."

Blair didn't want to upset her anymore but she had to explain. "You're just a lot stronger than you were. As long as you stay in the water of course, you can't go on land anymore because the air will kill you." Dana looked petrified. She was glancing quickly between Blair and her friends. Some of the other girls- her sister included- had started shouting at them, desperately.

"Let's go back," Blair offered, trying to be as kind and gentle as possible. "Hold my hand? I can make sure you don't just zip past them."

Dana hesitated, then took Blair's hand and Blair led them back. They came up right in front of Dana's furious sister.

"Don't you ever do that again!" she yelled at Dana, then turned and scowled at Blair. "Get the hell away from my sister right now!"

Blair backed away from them slowly and Chuck grabbed her, pulling her into his protective embrace.

"Look- we can't just leave you here, you'll get attacked by orcas." Chuck explained holding Blair close.

"I told your freak of a girlfriend to get away from us!" the girl screamed, and because she couldn't hit Blair or Chuck without letting go of her friends she tried to kick them. Her tail swung up out of the water. It was beautiful, soft brown with green and gold shimmering. It whipped at them but they were faster and dipped under the water.

"What the heck was that?" Dana asked. "You saw that, right Jenna? There was like a giant fish."

"What did you do to me?" Jenna asked Chuck and Blair when they resurfaced. "You did something weird to Dana too didn't you?"

Blair and Chuck waited quietly out of Jenna's reach. Luce and Kaylee bobbed nearby, mouths agape in shock.

What Jenna did next surprised them all. She twisted out of her friends' grasp and dove. It looked like she was going straight down and Blair pulled out of Chuck's embrace, ready to go down after her if she didn't reappear.

Something surged under Blair and she could hear a quiet rumble as something sped towards her underwater. It reminded her of the way orcas attacked, surprising their prey from below. If there had been time Chuck would have grabbed her and pulled her out of the way. But as he reached for her Jenna came up so hard and fast she knocked Blair clear out of the water, her tail flipping erratically as she spun through the air. When Blair landed, Jenna came at her, trying to get hold of her neck.

Before Jenna could grab her, Chuck moved in and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her off Blair, being careful not to hurt Jenna. She beat against his chest as he swung her around and dropped her next to her stunned friends. Jenna pulled her fist back and hit Chuck hard in the nose. "Fuck!" he cried, skidding backwards.

After Chuck regained his balance he glared venomously at Jenna and there was a stunned silence before Blair snapped out of her shock and raced to make sure her boyfriend was ok. Chuck had his hand clamped over his nose. Blair pulled his hand away and inspected his face. He wasn't bleeding, thank god; that would've been very hard to explain to Caterina. Blair turned her attention back to Jenna.

"You bitch, what the hell is wrong with you?!" she shrieked. "I can handle you _head butting_ me out of the water, but you hit him? Uh-uh. Not cool. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you have no right to just show up in _our_ territory and start attacking people! One thing you need to know is that I'm the crazy bitch around here."

Dana tried to calm her sister down. "Seriously Jen, stop!"

Jenna lurched at her sister and before Blair or anyone else knew what was happening, they were grappling in a cloud of frothing bubbles.

"It's like I keep telling you," One of the other girls screamed. "We've all turned into mermaids. Jenna please- listen to me."

Dana and Jenna stopped fighting and Blair pulled Chuck farther away from them, trying to avoid either of them getting hurt again.

"That weird couple are merpeople too," the blonde sounded exasperated. "They have tails, look we all have tails. I'm not crazy!"

Dana looked between Blair and Chuck and the blond girl. Blair swam forward and stretched out on the waves so they could all see her silver, sparkling tail.

"Rachel I'm not saying you're crazy, it's just that we've all been through a lot and it's making you temporarily insane." Jenna sounded as though this wasn't the first time she'd told Rachel this.

"Jenna you just defined crazy!" Rachel screeched.

"Are you blind Jen? Can you not see her tail?" Rachel asked.

"She has breasts and a face like a girl and a tail like a fish! Look at her and tell me she's not a mermaid!" Rachel was crying now.

"She's right, I am a mermaid and I am real." Blair pulled herself upright in the water. "And they're mermaids and he's a merman," she gestured to Kaylee, Luce and Chuck.

Luce swam over next to Blair. "It's true, you're not crazy, Rachel. There's a lot more of us living in a cave near here if Jenna will just stop freaking out and punching everyone, we'll take you back there."

Jenna sighed deeply.

"Come on Jen, I think we should go with them. Everybody's exhausted," Dana pleaded. "We can look for a boat again tomorrow."

"How do you crazy people think we're supposed to get there?" Jenna demanded.

"You swim!" Chuck shouted. Blair and Luce turned and looked at him, surprised by his outburst.

"Because you have a tail!" he swam forward to the group of girls staring wide-eyed at him and flipped the end of his tail out of the water.

"Because you're mermaids!" His nose hurt and he was completely done with this whole ordeal. All he wanted to do was just go back to the cave and sleep, he couldn't handle indecisive women anymore. Blair glared at him but he didn't care at the moment.

"Half of us _can't_ swim!" Jenna snapped, looking at him with her brows raised.

Chuck smirked. "You can now."

Kaylee and Luce swam ahead of them and by the time Blair and Chuck broke the surface of the water with 14 new mermaids, Caterina was enraged.

"They're not welcome here," Caterina stated, fire flashing in her gray eyes. "At least the one who attacked Blair and Chuck isn't."

A suffocating silence settled over the cave.

"I don't know which one but I think it was one of the black girls, maybe the one with more green on her tail," Kaylee told her.

"First she attacked Blair and then when Chuck tried to pull her off of Blair she punched him in the nose. See Cat, Chuck's nose is all red. That bitch."

Caterina's harsh gaze fell on Dana and Jenna. "Whichever one of you is responsible, leave now."

Even though Blair was furious at Jenna for hurting Chuck, she knew if Jenna was kicked out the rest of them would, no doubt, follow her and Blair didn't want that. She looked over at Chuck. He rolled his eyes and then nodded slowly. Blair turned back towards Caterina. "No one attacked us," she announced.

She still had to explain Chuck's red nose. "We were just playing, and Jenna, not used to her tail, accidentally smacked Chuck and he fell into me, knocking me over."

Kaylee gaped at her, shocked. "Blair how can you lie about that? I saw her attack you and then punch him."

"You were really far away Kaylee," Blair snapped. She prayed Kaylee would shut up and that Luce, the only other person who had seen it and knew about the Timahk, wouldn't say anything.

Caterina's eyes darted from Blair to Kaylee to Chuck, trying to figure out if Blair was lying.

"Look- if you guys don't want us here-" Jenna started before Chuck interrupted her.

"We do want you here but..." he quickly glanced at Blair and sighed before continuing.

"There's a rule that says no mermaid or merman can ever hurt another merman or mermaid intentionally." He stared Jenna down, daring her to say something and hoping she would swallow her pride. He didn't like the idea of standing up for a girl he didn't know; he didn't like standing up for anybody he didn't know or anyone who wasn't Blair. But he was because he knew if he didn't and got them kicked out, Blair would hate him and he didn't want that. She was basically all he had.

"Kaylee thinks you broke it and punched me deliberately," Chuck finished explaining. Jenna and Dana looked at each other, understanding the seriousness of the situation.

"Charles," Caterina hissed, using his full name so he understood she wasn't messing around. "Charles, do you understand how much you're risking if you and Blair are lying. You know that if even one mermaid stays who's broken the Timahk, our tribe is dishonored."

Chuck stared straight into Caterina's piercing gaze. She continued. "It's not something you ever lie about." It almost seemed like Caterina was trying to guilt trip him into telling the truth, but having grown up on the Upper East Side, Chuck didn't crack under pressure.

"Jenna did slap me, but it wasn't on purpose. She did not break the Timahk," Chuck's voice gave nothing away. He was a master manipulator and liar and he knew it. He may have a tail now but he was still Chuck Bass.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day was very confusing for everyone. Some of the new mermaids were excited about their new life, glad to be free from the human world, while others were in shock, crying and looking around at their new surroundings in confusion.

Blair noticed that Dana and Luce became a team, working together to get the traumatized mermaids accustomed to their new surroundings. Blair and Chuck hung back, watching all this but not getting involved. They were still furious with Jenna. Blair was glad all the new mermaids were staying but she still couldn't believe the audacity of what Jenna had done, hitting Chuck like that when he'd done nothing wrong. Yes, he'd grabbed and thrown her slightly but he was only trying to protect Blair, and it's not like he had hurt Jenna.

Chuck simply didn't want to get punched again or see Blair hurt. He wasn't afraid of Jenna and he hoped that after he stuck his neck out for her the other day she'd leave them alone. He watched her sometimes, daring her to do anything to either of them. Jenna never said anything to him, she just glared harshly when she caught him staring. He definitely didn't want to be kicked out of the tribe but if Jenna did _anything_ to Blair he couldn't be held responsible for his actions.

The night after the arrival of the new mermaids everyone was resting in the main cave, talking quietly amongst themselves. Blair and Chuck were curled in the corner.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he placed delicate kisses all over Blair's face, she smiled brightly. "I love you too," she whispered.

"Are you happy? I mean- do you like it here?" Blair asked after a moment.

"I've never been more happy or content than I am right now." She heard no hesitation or doubt in his voice as he spoke.

They were interrupted by a shrill scream. One of the new girls, Violet- who was especially shaken up by everything- had somehow managed to pull herself out of the water and onto the beach, exposing her tail to the biting air. She was writhing so violently that she kept flipping farther up the beach.

Chuck moved so quickly he dumped Blair off his lap and she splashed into the water. She didn't care though, she followed him to the group of astonished mermaids watching Violet scream and thrash on the beach. They shoved their way to the front of the group.

Blair saw Luce frantically looking around and calling for Caterina. She knew what Luce was thinking. Violet was too far up the beach and anyone who tried to help her would have to pull themselves out of the water to reach her. It would be too shocking for the new mermaids. It had to be one of the older girls.

Blair glanced at Chuck. He grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"Blair don't, please," he begged.

She pulled her arm free from his desperate grasp and looked at Violet, who was going into convulsions. She looked back at Chuck. "I have to do something, she's gonna die."

She swam over to Luce. "I'll help you, come on."

Luce stared at Blair for a moment, then nodded and before Chuck could grab Blair again she and Luce threw themselves onto the beach. Blair found it extremely difficult to pull herself up the beach. She had underestimated just how heavy her tail was out of the water. She felt her scales start to burn. Violet wasn't helping the situation either; she kept throwing herself farther up on the beach, shrieking in agony.

Cold wind swept across Blair's exposed tail, biting into it with searing pain. She tried to ignore it and continued to pull herself up the beach, closer to Violet.

Violet had stopped screaming now. She lay there, still terribly far away, twisting and flipping as she gasped for breath.

Blair stopped pulling herself up the beach. She couldn't keep quiet anymore and screamed, the pain in her tail too much for her to bear. It felt like her scales were on fire, the pain ripping through her very core. She had forgotten about Violet and Luce, forgotten everything that wasn't the pain in her tail.

Her tail started beating uncontrollably, her fists pounding against the beach, sending sprays of pebbles flying through the air. Through the fog of pain and her own screaming, Blair suddenly felt cool, wet hands wrap around the base of her tail.

Chuck, not being able to stand hearing Blair scream anymore and realizing she wouldn't make it back to the water on her own, had crawled far enough out of the water that he could reach Blair. He'd also exposed the top of his own tail and the air was starting to nip at it. He reached up and grabbed Blair. Yanking hard on her tail, he pulled them both back into the cool sea. The water lapped and kissed her burning scales. Blair clung to him, panting breathlessly, choked sobs racking her body.

Chuck, still holding Blair, pushed his way through the group of mermaids watching Luce and Violet still on the beach. As he swam into a far corner of the cave and watched Blair closely, he faintly heard Luce start to scream. He did care about Luce and would be sad if something happened to her, but right now his main concern was Blair. She was still shaking and crying. Her tail was pulsating as the muscles relaxed and the scales stopped burning and drying out.

As Chuck held Blair waiting for her to stop crying, he heard a splash and looked over at the group of mermaids. Luce had rolled herself, dragging Violet down the beach and the other girls had caught them. They were all safe now.

Chuck turned his attention back to Blair. Her face was buried in his chest and her sobs had quieted down a bit. He wrapped his arms tighter around her shoulders and buried his nose in her neck. "Shhh, it's ok." He stroked her hair.

Blair suddenly stopped crying and looked up at him. "Are Violet and Luce ok?"

"Yeah I think so, but are..." he wasn't able to finish the question because Blair pulled out of his embrace and swam through the crowd of mermaids. She saw Caterina hugging Luce tightly and crying. Dread pooled in the bottom of Blair's stomach before she saw Luce return the hug. Ok, Luce was alright, but where was Violet?

She looked to her left and saw Dana and Kaylee hugging Violet tightly. She was shaking and breathing hard but at least she was back in the water. Blair swam over to them and hugged Violet, kissing her forehead.

"Jenna don't you dare give either of those girls a hard time ever again, do you hear me?" It was Dana speaking.

"You know you're almost not worth all the trouble," Samantha quipped. "You better have some amazing singers."

Chuck swam over and pushed past Samantha. "Shut up Samantha," he hissed, glaring down at her.

It was three excruciatingly long weeks before Cat let the tribe sink another ship. It probably would've been longer if Samantha and Luce hadn't spotted a metaskaza on a yacht and been desperate to get her off. Caterina let Chuck lead the group that day, swimming at the bow of the yacht. Blair was on his left, Caterina and Luce on his right. She let him lead because Samantha and Luce said there were more women aboard the yacht than men. Caterina knew if that was the case he would be able to enchant them better and the yacht would go down faster.

Chuck, being a born leader, strategized their attack and executed the sinking beautifully.

The yacht had just gone down and Blair and Chuck were looking for Caterina. They knew by now she should have the metaskaza. They found Cat surrounded by the tribe holding a girl just under the water so the waves lapped over her face. Caterina's music didn't sound right; it sounded choked and tired. It was still beautiful but sounded forced, and it was so loud and powerful that as Blair and Chuck neared the tribe they had to cover their ears to shut out the screeching song.

The girl had long golden curls. She was pretty but in a harsh way and didn't yet have the mermaids' soft, preternatural beauty. Blair could tell Caterina was exhausted and had been singing for a long time. She suddenly stopped and looked at Samantha. "Samantha, I can't keep going like this, I'm exhausted. We're going to have to drown her."

Samantha was crying. "Please Cat, a little longer; I can tell she's just about to change, please."

"Samantha no!" Caterina shook her head, her long red hair swinging elegantly.

Samantha looked over at Blair and Chuck. "Chuck, Blair one of you, please help," Samantha begged.

"I'll help," Chuck offered, knowing his voice was stronger than any of the others. He swam over to Caterina, lifting the girl and taking some of the weight off of Cat.

Chuck and Caterina started singing. All the mermaids around them dove away, trying to get as far away from the shrill music Chuck and Caterina were making. Blair and Samantha were the only ones who stayed. Blair wasn't going anywhere and didn't like that Chuck had volunteered to help. She didn't like that the first face this new girl would see would be _her_ boyfriend's.

Not five minutes later the girl finally pooled into a puddle of living water and then changed, her long golden hair and stunning face reappearing. Bright blue eyes blinked open and stared dreamily at Chuck. Her long baby blue tail swished slowly as the waves rocked the three of them gently.

Chuck studied the girl carefully. She seemed too gorgeous and there was something that made him uncomfortable about her- she looked like a doll. Long golden hair, blue eyes, and her tail glittered pink when the sun hit it the right way.

When Blair saw the way the girl was looking at Chuck, jealousy flared in her. She swam over to them, quickly and possessively looping her left arm around Chuck and peeked over his shoulder, looking down at the girl floating between him and Caterina.

Now that the ear piercing singing had stopped, the rest of the tribe returned slowly. The blue-eyed metaskaza caught Chuck's shoulder and pulled herself upright.

Caterina was limp with exhaustion and leaned heavily on Jenna. The metaskaza, still holding tight to Chuck's shoulder, gazed around at all of them. It was eerily quiet as everyone stared at her.

"You killed my daddy!" she suddenly exclaimed and, deciding Chuck must be in charge, buried her face in his chest. He let go of her completely and floated there, stunned, not touching her.

No one said anything; everybody just stared, wide-eyed.

"Get her the hell off of me," Chuck growled, trying to pry the crying girl off.

Blair noticed immediately that as the girl cried and sobbed melodramatically, she was peeking through her fingers to see what everyone's reaction would be. Having had enough of the ridiculousness of the situation, Blair swam around and grabbed the girl, pulling her off Chuck.

"Oh pull it together." Blair pushed the girl away from Chuck.

Samantha caught the sobbing metaskaza and cradled her in her arms. Caterina was still too weak to intervene, she just lay there, leaning against Jenna with her head buried in Jenna's neck.

"Blair, be nice," Samantha hissed. Blair scoffed and swam back over to her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck. Blair and Chuck watched the new mermaid closely and realized that everything she was doing- the crying and the anger- was completely fake.

The girl stopped crying, turned and grabbed Samantha around the neck, although she didn't squeeze. "You killed my daddy, didn't you? It was you, wasn't it?" she shrieked.

Samantha didn't move, just floated, sputtering in confusion.

Chuck groaned loudly and unhooked Blair's arms from around his neck. He swam forward and grabbed the metaskaza, unfurling her hands from around Samantha's neck and pulling her away. He held her tightly by the shoulders. "I really don't appreciate having to pull new bitchy metaskazas off my friends."

The metaskaza smoothed her expression and smiled sweetly at Chuck. "I'm so sorry, I was just scared and upset. You have to save me from these crazy people," she tried to lean up and hug him.

Chuck pushed her firmly away. "Yeah nice try sweetheart. I grew up around girls like you. You're not fooling anybody. And technically I am one of the crazy people."

Chuck swam back over to Blair, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her pointedly on the temple, Blair smile smugly at the metaskaza.

The girl looked bewildered for a moment, then turned and looked at the rest of them before she chirped, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing I don't care you killed my daddy."

The girl laughed, a high tinkling, grating laugh. The other mermaids stared at her, gaping. Caterina looked up drowsily from Jenna's shoulder. Samantha and Kaylee looked at the girl with something approaching admiration.

The girl got bored with laughing and started inspecting her tail. "This is going to blow Sasha Jennings's mind when I get back to school."

Blair and Chuck sighed in exasperation. Caterina perked up and pulled away from Jenna slightly. She tried to explain to the girl that now she lived with the tribe and she wouldn't be going back to school, but Cat was still exhausted and her voice lacked its usual regal tone.

The metaskaza listened for a few seconds before waving Caterina's explanation away dismissively. She looked down at her tail under the water and, thinking it wasn't really attached to her, tried to pull it off.

"These stupid things don't come off? Wait- you don't mean I'm stuck here, do you?" The girl asked, her brows furrowed in distaste. Blair and Chuck seemed to be the only ones who realized they were all being insulted.

"You can't take me back to Miami?" The girl whimpered. Chuck suddenly felt very sorry that he'd helped save this bitch.

"What's your name?" Samantha asked the metaskaza timidly. The girl whipped her head around and stared pointedly at Samantha, taking in her expression of admiration.

"Anais," she answered, flipping her long hair around her shoulder.

Chuck nuzzled Blair's ear. "That's a bitch's name if I ever heard one," he murmured. Blair crossed her arms over his and fixed her classic Waldorf Bitch Glare on the girl. Not that the metaskaza was paying any attention to them.

"Mm-hmm," she agreed, narrowing her eyes at Anais.

"I'm Samantha," Samantha introduced herself. The metaskaza stared at Samantha; it looked like she was trying to decide how useful she would be.

"Could you please have your... servants take me back to Miami?" Anais looked around at the surrounding mermaids distastefully.

"Caterina is our queen," Blair snapped before Samantha could answer. Anais turned her lovely face towards Blair and seemed to notice her for the first time. Her azure eyes traveled up and down Blair's body, inspecting the regal way she held herself.

"We never go that far but we would be very happy to point you in the right direction," Chuck told her. pointing south. He was determined to show this little pest that he and Blair worked as a team and she had no chance with him.

"Charles!" Caterina snapped. She had recovered slightly and was glaring at him.

Caterina calmed down and turned back to Anais. "I don't think that would be a very good idea. We'll take you back to the cave."

Anais laughed shrilly. "Are you kidding me? You live in a cave?"

"No, she's not kidding and now you do too," Blair told her bluntly, staring straight into her blue eyes.

Anais burst into tears again and Samantha quickly rushed to her side.


	6. Chapter 6

Blair remembered how when she first changed she talked a little bit about her life in New York, but after a couple hours Caterina had gently told her that it simply wasn't polite to talk about her human life. Blair had never said anything on the subject after that, except occasionally mentioning Serena.

Anais however, felt it necessary to ramble on and on about her life in Miami and how simply wonderful it was. Blair was stretched out on the beach with Chuck's head resting on her stomach. His eyes were closed and he had his arms draped over his face, trying to block out Anais's shrill voice.

Anais sat surrounded by the other mermaids telling them about how amazing her cell phone was or whatever. Blair imagined that if she had known Anais in her human life she probably would've been friends with her; admired her for her confidence- but now Anais just bugged her. And her voice was starting to give Blair a headache.

When Blair first changed she had missed human objects, designer clothes and Chanel 5. Now she realized she didn't need those things; she had the only two things she would ever need, her voice and Chuck.

Luce swam over and lay down next to her. She turned and looked at Blair. "Don't you just want tell her to shut the hell up and maybe slap her a little bit?" Luce asked quietly, scowling at Anais.

Chuck lifted his head off Blair's stomach. "More than you know," he answered. Blair and Luce giggled quietly at his answer.

Anais had moved onto a different subject now, her 16th birthday. As Blair listened to her talk about how amazing it was, she thought back to the last birthday she'd had before she changed, her 17th birthday. But the only thing she could remember was the night before, in Chuck's limo. She missed that vehicle, she realized; it had been their own sacred place.

"Oh and I forgot to ask you, are there no other guys?" Anais asked, looking pointedly at Blair and Chuck, but focusing her attention mainly on Chuck. This got Blair's attention immediately and she popped up, sending daggers at Anais with her possessive glare.

"Nope just me," Chuck narrowed his eyes at her and intertwined his fingers with Blair's.

"Boys are rare," Blair continued, gazing at Chuck lovingly and stroking his hair. "It's very hard for them to change."

"That is such a drag" Anais whined. "So it's just him?" she pointed at Chuck.

"Yes," Caterina told her.

"Why is it so hard for them to change?" Anais asked, looking at Blair, disgusted with the way Chuck sweetly kissed her hand.

"No one knows- it just is," Caterina explained. It made Blair happy to see that Caterina was regaining some of her strength.

Anais gestured towards Chuck. "Well then, how did he get here?"

Blair stared at Anais. "I changed him."

"Blair and Chuck are very special to us," Caterina cut in. "I haven't seen a mermaid change a boy in over 20 years. And I don't know that there are any more mermen in the world. For all we know Chuck could be it."

"It's going to be seriously boring around here if we don't get some more guys," Anais complained. "And I mean- what makes Blair so special?"

Caterina fixed a look of contempt on Anais before answering. "Blair is special because she did something not even queen Marina could do." Her voice was steady and icy cold. "She loves Chuck so much that it wasn't just her voice that changed him."

Anais was quiet for a moment, considering this. "But how did Blair have time to meet him and change him... Unless of course she broke those silly rules you were talking about."

Jenna and Samantha were the only ones that found this funny and even their laughs sounded too forced and high. Everyone else knew how much Caterina cared about Blair and they couldn't believe Anais would continue to dwell on the subject.

"Anais, if you think the Timahk is so ridiculous, why don't you try breaking it?" Caterina's voice was quiet but deadly. It sent shivers up Blair's spine.

Finally Anais shut up and everyone moved onto a different subjects. Blair lay back down on the beach and closed her eyes, Luce stayed next to her, staring up at the ceiling of the cave. Chuck stayed right where he was too but he didn't close his eyes, he watched Anais closely. It was apparent she realized she had crossed the line; she sat in the corner sulking and looking down at her hands, trying to figure something out.

Chuck hoped the next time she spoke she wouldn't be so pushy.

He watched the shimmering around her; no matter how long he looked at it, it never formed any indication as to why she had changed. And the pictures he saw were blurry, unfocused and never revealed anything that appeared to be traumatic. The longer he was around this girl the more uncomfortable he felt, there was something very wrong with her. It didn't make sense to him how every day life could be so horrifying that it would turn her into a mermaid.

Chuck thought about asking Caterina about this, but when he looked over at her she looked asleep. He could wait until tomorrow to approach the subject.

Chuck closed his eyes again when Anais started speaking. She was talking to Caterina and asking her how she got her hair so smooth.

Over the next week Blair noticed the tribe seemed to split into two cliques.

There were the girls who were taken with Anais; they admired her for some reason. The rest of them however, Blair and Chuck included- despised the girl and intended to spend their days with Caterina.

Blair wouldn't leave Caterina's side; Cat was still tired and frail after changing Anais. Though she didn't talk to them much, they still stayed near her and were careful not to let her see their pity; she didn't like people pitying her.

Chuck and Blair were finding it exceedingly difficult to spend much time at the dining beach or at the main cave because whenever they were there they had to focus almost all of their energy on shutting out Anais's chirpy, shrill voice.

After Anais had been there for three days, Blair and Chuck couldn't handle her anymore and they started sleeping in their small cave. They now only went to the main cave during the day and even then they tried to limit the time spent there.

One day Chuck was alone in the small cave he shared with Blair. Blair had gone for a swim with Mariam. He was floating on the surface of the water singing quietly to himself. He wasn't trying to come up with a new melody, he was just passing time, letting his voice drift off into the death song and then twist up and go wherever it wanted. He wanted to see where it would take him.

Chuck got bored with singing after awhile. He squeezed through the narrow opening to the cave and started swimming for the dining beach. He knew that when Blair got back and found the cave empty she'd know where he'd gone.

He came up about 10 yards from the shore of the dining beach, and right as he surfaced Luce popped up next to him. He looked over at her.

"Hey."

"Hey," she answered, smiling feebly at him. Luce had been fairly distant since Anais arrived; she didn't talk to anyone very much anymore and spent a lot of time alone.

He looked back at the dining beach and saw Anais surrounded by a group of girls, as usual. There was a cluster of larvae hanging around the edge of the group, drawn near by the sound of laughter.

The larvae were inching closer to the beach, curious as to what everyone was tittering about.

He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to be close to Anais. He and Luce swam over to the shore. He started listening to what Anais was saying.

"So I couldn't remember exactly where the yacht went down but Samantha said she remembered. I think we should go back, there's a ton of awesome stuff," she chirped. Her voice almost made him nauseous.

"I don't know why you guys would just let all the amazing things we had go to waste, and rot on the bottom of the ocean," Chuck realized Anais was talking about going back to the wreck and looking for "leftovers".

Anais kept talking. "I would think that was the whole point; here is this super classy yacht instead of all the crappy fishing boats or whatever and you're just gonna let all that amazing stuff on it be forgotten about?" Anais laughed, the same grating laugh that made Chuck's ears ring.

"Jenna talked me out of bringing back the TVs and stuff. She said they wouldn't work after being under the water for that long but my mom had some really amazing clothes."

Chuck imagined all the beautiful, elegant mermaids bogged down with human clothes. The images that formed in his head seemed all wrong. Merfolk weren't meant to wear clothes, they were supposed to be naked and sleek, swift and able to cut through the water at amazing speeds. Clothes would only weigh them down.

Chuck shook himself out of his thoughts and looked back at the group of girls, suddenly realizing that they had _already_ gone back to the wreck. Jenna, Samantha and Anais were all lounging in the middle of the group, wearing brightly colored bikini tops and chiffon wraps. The chiffon, being wet, awkwardly clung to their glowing milky skin.

There were other items salvaged from the wreck scattered around the beach: more clothes, a few hairbrushes, what looked like lipgloss or lipstick and some jewelry.

Chuck's attention was drawn away from the crisis in front of him when Blair and Mariam swam up. Blair came over and kissed him. She then turned and looked at the rest of the mermaids. After gawking at them for a moment she whispered in astonishment, "Oh, that is just wrong."

"I know" he agreed. Blair slapped him on the arm, obviously not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to get his attention. He turned and stared at her in shock. "What the hell?"

"When I say 'that's wrong' it's fine, but when you say it, it's pervy," she explained.

Blair looked back at the group of girls. They were wearing tacky and gaudy diamond earrings. Samantha even had on a pair of oversized Gucci sunglasses (Blair could recognize a designer brand from a mile away) and she was holding a mirror. That actually got Blair's attention. Her insecurities about her appearance were almost non-existent since she changed but she still wanted to know what she looked like.

She watched Samantha pout in an exaggerated fashion, examining her appearance in the mirror. She then picked up a tube of lipgloss and tried to apply it, but salt water had gotten into it and it dribbled in a cherry pink stream down her chin.

Samantha gave up on the lipgloss and passed the mirror to Jenna. Jenna posed and pouted just as Samantha had. She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and smoothed her eyebrow.

"There's still a ton of great stuff if anybody wants to go back for it. Of course it makes sense that I got all the best things since it was my daddy's yacht and everything there is practically mine anyway," Anais chirped.

A year ago Blair may have taken Anais up on this offer; now the idea of owning human things didn't appeal to her. There was only one thing she wished she had. The Erickson Beamon necklace Chuck had given her. She'd seen it when they'd sunk his yacht but she hadn't realized it was actually her necklace. She now wished more than anything that she could go back and find it, but it had been too long and even if she were to go back to the site of the wreck she probably wouldn't be able to find it.

Blair noticed Chuck watching her. She looked at him. "What?" She asked. He could always tell when something was bothering her.

He shook his head. "Nothing." He was lying and she could tell. She studied his expression for a moment. 'What are you hiding, Bass?' she thought.

She turned her attention back to Anais and as she listened she realized they were already planning another trip back to the wreck.

"Hey Blair, Chuck, wanna come see what's left?" Dana called, swimming over to them. "Blair, I saw this pair of sunglasses- they would look so good on you."

Before Blair could answer Dana handed her the mirror. "Here."

Blair took the mirror from Dana and gazed at her reflection. She was still recognizable as herself: same dark doe eyes, same small, straight nose, same plump full lips, same pale skin, although now her skin had a soft silver, blue glow.

Blair looked at herself for another long moment, then handed the mirror back to Dana.

"I bet you can't believe how freaking hot you are. I always thought I was pretty hot but I was amazed when I saw myself," Dana told her, looking at herself in the mirror again.

Dana looked up from the mirror and back at Blair. "I kind of always wondered if I was as pretty as the rest of you; I mean, you're gorgeous, Blair, and you've got such full lips… maybe we could find you some lipgloss that doesn't have sea water in it. You guys are coming right?" Dana was excited and speaking so quickly she was tripping over her words.

Blair stared at Dana for a moment then looked around for Caterina. She had a feeling if Caterina were there she might stop this. It wasn't against the Timahk, but it just seemed wrong.

"I don't really want any human things, I think I'll just stay here. I'm kind of hungry anyway; I need some lunch," Blair told Dana apologetically. Dana didn't seem too fazed by her answer; she shrugged and swim back over to Anais and the others.

Blair watched Dana swim back. She noticed the group of curious larvae had come closer to the shore and the group of mermaids. One particularly bold one had broken away from the group and was bobbing near Anais's tail. It watched the sun dance on her sparkly scales with fascination. The little girl reached her hand out and softly brushed Anais's fins, Anais was too busy talking to Samantha to notice. The little girl grew bolder and softly wrapped her lips around the iridescent fins.

When Anais finally noticed this, she shrieked and flipped her tail out of the water, spraying droplets of water over everyone. The larvae cowered in terror as Anais lifted her tail above its head, ready to strike. "That thing was just gumming me. Oh that is so gross, I should bash its stupid head in."

Samantha flung herself into the water and grabbed Anais's tail, pinning it to the seabed. Anais tried to twist free but only fell into deeper water. Samantha lay across Anais's tail and had to crane her head back to talk. "Anais, I told you we're not allowed to hurt them, the Timahk protects them. If you hurt one Caterina will throw you out," Samantha whined.

"Caterina's not even here; she wouldn't have to know," Anais bargained. Blair wished desperately that she would hit the larvae, then they could finally get rid of her and everything could go back to the way it was.

"You can't hurt larvae," Kaylee explained, her voice so quiet you could barely hear her. "Maybe some mermaids here would lie to Caterina, but not the rest of us; we tell her everything," Kaylee cast a glance in Blair's direction. She realized Kaylee was talking about her and the time she lied to Caterina about Jenna.

"Why does Caterina get to be queen?" Anais snapped after a long awkward pause. "I mean- how do you even decide something like that?"

"Whoever is the best singer is queen and Caterina is our _best_ singer," Chuck told her, glaring hard.

"Well that's stupid. Shouldn't it be like... who's the prettiest or who's the oldest?" Anais objected.

Mariam butted into the conversation then. "If it was who's the oldest, Blair would be queen."

Anais obviously hadn't realized how much older Blair was than the rest of them. Everyone knew Anais had been _almost_ 17 when she changed. The realization that Blair was older than her shut her up for a while.

Miriam was the one who broke the silence. She hadn't spoken so much since Anais had arrived. "That's the way it is with every other tribe in the world. It's always who's the best singer, and you can always recognize the queen by her voice."

"Fine. If that's the way you say it is, it must be true," Anais rolled her eyes. "So who's the second best?"

"Blair" Miriam answered immediately.


	7. Chapter 7

Blair and Chuck kept to themselves in the weeks following, spending almost all of their time in their little cave singing to each other. If they weren't doing that they hung out with Luce and Mariam, who seemed to be the only ones not enthralled with Anais.

It was the height of summer now and the warm weather brought more boats to the area: cruise ships and yachts along with the usual fishing boats. As time passed, Anais gained more power in the tribe, it was obvious she was trying to push Caterina out and become queen. She had even started calling the shots on when the tribe sunk ships. Caterina seemed to have given up trying to control the rebellious mermaids, which was very out of character.

Every time Anais, Samantha or Jenna saw a boat, they would sink it. It didn't matter how close together the sinkings were, they just kept going. They were out of control.

One sunny afternoon Blair, Chuck, Luce and Miriam were at the dining beach. Everyone else had gone to sink another boat. Miriam sat at the far edge of the small group, she had become more secluded. The only person she would have a full conversation with was Blair. Blair knew what was bothering her; Mariam had been a mermaid longer than any of them and she knew Anais was playing with fire. If she kept sinking ships like this the humans were going to get suspicious.

Blair swim over to Mariam. "Are you ok?" she asked her, gently placing her hand on Marian's shoulder.

"No," Mariam answered quietly, shaking her head and looking down, refusing to make eye contact with Blair. "I had a another dream last night."

Miriam had been having nightmares for the past few days. Blair was quiet, giving her a chance to continue. "Same as all the other others..." Miriam paused trying to find the right words. "Humans found us and started killing everyone. If we keep going... if Anais keeps going like this, they _are_ going to find us and it's not gonna be pretty when they do."

Blair didn't say anything. Tears had collected in Mariam's eyes and were on the verge of spilling down her cheeks. Blair pulled her into a hug and held her tightly. She had the same fears. The tribe was headed for destruction.

Over the next three days Miriam stopped even talking to Blair. One early morning, before the sun had peeked over the horizon, Blair woke up with a start. She swore she'd heard something. She sat up and looked over at Chuck. He was still asleep, his arm draped over her waist. She sat perfectly still and listened.

There it was again, it was unmistakable. It was a sound she would know anywhere. A scream, but louder and almost choked. That scream had torn from her own chest. That was the sound of a mermaid out of the water. Panic ripped through her. She turned over and shook Chuck's shoulder hard. "Chuck! Wake up, wake up!" she cried.

"What?" He groaned, rolling over onto his back and gazing up at her through sleepy eyes.

"Don't you hear that?" Blair asked, staring at him; an intense, terrified look on her face. Chuck was quiet for a few seconds, listening; he then looked at her, his eyes wide.

"Oh my god," he breathed, sitting up.

"Come on," she grabbed his hand and dove down through the narrow tunnel, leading out into the open ocean.

They were slicing through the water so fast they had to let go of each other's hands, but it didn't matter- they were going in the same direction. They didn't know where they were going- they were just following that horrible scream. As they swam, other members of the tribe caught up with them: Anais, Caterina, Samantha, Jenna, Dana, Rachel, Violet, everyone.

It was hard to locate the sound. As Blair neared she recognized who it was. And the creeping suspicion she'd felt when she woke was confirmed when she surfaced. It was Mariam.

She was on a different beach, one none of them ever went to, it was too open, too wide, too exposed. It was obvious Miriam had chosen this spot deliberately, she knew it would take them longer to find her and that they wouldn't think to look here immediately.

Miriam was too far up the beach; they couldn't reach her. It was amazing she been able to pull her self up that far.

She was still a mermaid, thank god; she hadn't changed back yet. She still had her beautiful, long tail, but the scales looked disturbingly ashy and fragile.

The tribe surrounded the beach, everyone leaning on the beach reaching up, trying to grasp Miriam, but she was too far away, too far above them. There was nothing any of them to do.

Blair turned and looked at Chuck. His eyes were glued on Mariam's shaking, gasping form; his face was white as a sheet and his expression unreadable. Blair reached out slowly and grasped his hand under the waves. She turned and watched Mariam again, she was in such a trance that she didn't immediately realize someone had started singing.

Blair looked to her right and saw Luce singing. A sharp rasping groan drew Blair's attention from back to Miriam, and the song Luce had started to sing died in her chest. Scales peeled off so quickly it was hard to see what was going on. Human legs then replaced Mariam's blue-black tail.

The silence that settled in the air was suffocating. Blair felt as though a heavy weight had been placed on her shoulders, smothering her. She felt tears prickle in her eyes and she couldn't tear her gaze from Mariam's grimacing pale face. Mariam was dead, her piercing scream still echoing over the waves.

Stragglers from the tribe were still catching up and every time a new face broke the surface a cry of shock rang through the air, breaking Blair's heart even more.

Through Blair's haze of sorrow she heard Luce start to sing. Blair looked over and saw a tall wave of water at least 5 yards high hovering in the air. It took her a moment to realize that Luce was controlling it with her voice. The tribe parted to let the wave through. Blair watched, mouth agape as Luce maneuvered the wave up the beach. The tentacle of water lifted Mariam above them and carried her back to the sea.

Miriam lay safely in the tribe's arms. They kissed her face and talked to her in hushed tones, then carried her out to deeper water.

The song they sang for her was somewhere between a song and scream. All the pettiness and bitterness didn't matter anymore, they were united in sorrow, their voices coming together in one vibrating mass of an uncontainable sonic thrum.

Blair saw Anais's golden tresses rippling out beside her and Blair's voice mingled with hers easily and without hesitation.

Miriam's suicide had shaken everyone to the bone and the rest of the day the tribe seemed to be in a sort of limbo. No one knew what to do and they were all exhausted, emotionally and physically. No one said anything either, they all just sat together. Some girls cried, other stared off into space; even Anais was quiet.

Eventually everyone fell asleep in the main cave, a deep, restful, healing sleep.

The next day Blair and Chuck sat quietly in their own small cave. During the night they had moved in here as the main cave was too crowded. They needed peace and to be alone.

"Well, where would we go?" Chuck asked, holding Blair's hand and looking into her sorrowful eyes.

Blair shook her head slowly. "I don't know, just away. there's nothing left for us here."

Chuck was quiet for a moment, staring down at the water. "How about somewhere warm, like... Mexico?"

Blair stared at him "You want to swim all the way down to the coast of Mexico?"

"Why not?" he asked.

Blair laughed nervously. "Because it's freaking far."

"So? We can do it," he encouraged.

She was quiet for a moment, staring at him. "Ok," she nodded her head. "Mexico it is, then."

Chuck smiled softly and leaned in, kissing her.

"Do you think there's anyone who would want to come with us?" He asked. pulling back from the kiss. He knew Blair had grown very attached to most of the girls in the tribe.

"I don't think so. I mean, Dana's the only one I can think of who would _maybe_ want to come, but she won't leave Jenna. Sure Jenna's a bitch but she's still her sister."

"Ok, what about... umm, Luce?"

Blair shook her head again. "No, she's too attached to Caterina. she wouldn't leave unless Caterina came too and Cat is _not_ going to leave the tribe."

"Uh... Rachel?" Chuck asked.

"No, she's far too dependent on Dana," Blair explained. "I guess it's just us."

Chuck was quiet for a moment. Contemplating this, he nodded.

"Ok. we'll leave first thing in the morning. We'll go to the dining beach, get some food and then we'll leave and we'll never come back."

Blair looked up at him. "We'll be fine, we just have to hug the coast. If we stay near shore then there's less chance of orcas attacking. And as long as we have each other we'll be ok."

Chuck smiled faintly. He leaned in and kissed her. Her hands found their way into his hair and she pulled him closer. He wrapped his arms around her thin waist and pulled her against his body, laying her down against the pebble beach. His long tail snaked around hers, holding her as close and as flush against his body as he could.

Chapter 8

The next morning Blair sat at the dining beach. The tribe was there but she wasn't sitting with them. She was sitting alone and as far away from them as she possibly could. Chuck had disappeared at some point in the early morning and she hadn't seen him since.

The night before they agreed that as soon as they finished breakfast they would leave, but when Blair woke up this morning, Chuck was nowhere to be found. She had finished her breakfast almost half an hour ago and now she sat waiting for him, her patience waning with each minute that passed. She was mad and at the same time terrified that something had happened to him. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost him.

Her eyes scanned the sea, watching for him. Finally she saw him surface about 5 yards out. He saw her sitting there and quickly swam over, stopping right in front of her.

"Where the hell have you been? We agreed we were going to leave after breakfast and I wake up and you're not even there?" Blair hissed, keeping her voice low so the tribe wouldn't hear her. Chuck didn't say anything; just stared at her as she yelled at him, a small smile playing at his lips.

"You scared me you know, I didn't know if you'd been attacked by orcas or..." Blair shut up instantly when Chuck lifted something sparkling out of the water and held it in front of her: the Erickson Beamon necklace.

Blair was rendered speechless as he fastened the cherished article of jewelry around her neck.

"How and where did you find it?" Blair asked, stroking the heart-shaped pendant fondly and looking at him, eyes wide.

"Well, a couple weeks ago when Anais brought back all of the junk from her yacht, I could tell you wished you had it. So for the past… I don't know- two, two and a half weeks? Every morning before you woke up I went back to the wreck of my yacht and looked for it. I only just found it this morning. I wanted to make sure you had it before we left." Chuck smiled at her, watching her expression and waiting anxiously for her reaction.

Blair smiled widely at him, tears of joy collecting in the corners of her eyes.

"I love you" she breathed, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. When she finally pulled back she asked, "How- _how_ did you find this?"

"Well it wasn't easy, I almost drowned twice." He said this very nonchalantly.

"What? You almost drowned?" Blair cried. She couldn't believe he could be so stupid, and all just trying to retrieve some necklace.

"Blair, I want you to be happy. I could tell you missed it."

"And I want you not to be dead," she snapped.

"Something this beautiful deserves to be seen on someone worthy of beauty, not sitting on the bottom of the ocean collecting algae." he argued, repeating words of a conversation lost to time.

Blair stared at him for a long moment, then sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, really- thank you. It just scared me when you said you almost drowned. I can't bear the idea of anything bad happening to you. Ever. And I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Chuck pulled her into a tight hug. "You'll never have to worry about anything happening to me. I promise, I'll always be here."

She melted into his embrace, holding him close and burying her face in the crook of his neck.

They stayed that way for a few minutes. When she pulled back she said, "We need to leave now. Luce will probably be here any minute and if she shows up we'll never get away."

"I haven't eaten anything," Chuck explained.

"We can find another beach with some food. We have to go."

He nodded in understanding "Ok, come on."

Blair suddenly looked around frantically, tears filling her eyes. She saw Caterina sitting on her sofa-shaped rock by herself.

"Hang on." She quickly separated herself from Chuck and swam over to Cat.

She threw her arms around Caterina and buried her face in Cat's long fiery hair. Caterina was caught off guard by her, but slowly Blair felt Cat wrap her elegant arms around her lower back.

When Blair pulled back from the embrace she had to try desperately to keep her tears at bay and to keep her face from crumbling. Caterina looked at her quizzically. "Are you all right Blair?" she asked, her hands firmly on Blair's shoulders.

"Yes, I'm fine," Blair lied, shaking her head and looking down, avoiding eye contact with Caterina. "Chuck and I are going for a little swim," she explained, her voice shaking slightly.

Caterina watched her closely, nodding her head slowly. "Ok, be careful." She released her grip on Blair's shoulders.

Blair smiled feebly and quickly swam back to Chuck. she grabbed his hand and dove. She knew if she didn't leave now she wouldn't be able to go.

Chuck knew she would be all right eventually. It would just take time. New surroundings and a new life would help.

Blair held his hand tight and blinked back tears. She would miss the few friends she had desperately, but there wasn't anything left for them there, and it had become a matter of their safety. Mexico was safer. It held the promise of a new life, a fresh start. She knew she and Chuck would be ok; they only needed each other.


End file.
